13 Ray's Offer

Serina closed her notebook, and put it down on her desk. It was starting to get dark. She leaned back and stretched, letting out an exhausted groan. She then glanced at the clock on the wall. It showed that the time was five minutes past five.

"That'll do for today." she announced.

Cahill looked at the clock and nodded. Serina watched on as he gathered together all the loose papers that have been strewn across their desks during the course of the afternoon. He placed them meticulously back into their respective case files, then returned the files to their correct places in the filing cabinets.

Finally, Cahill picked up his notebook and pen, along with the few sheets of hand-scrawled notes and diagrams that they had made, and filed them neatly in the top drawer of his desk.

A faint smile crossed Serina's lips. She found Cahill's dedication to tidiness somewhat amusing. "Like to keep everything nice and tidy, I see." she commented.

He nodded. "So I know where everything is."

She looked down at her own desk and sighed. It was a mess compared to his. Especially compared to his. She picked up her notebook and pen, placing them in the top drawer of her desk. She then turned her attention to the loose stack of paper by the desk phone. She pushed the sheets together, attempting to make the stack a little neater. Once she was satisfied that it was as neat as it could be, she started to do the same to the smaller stack in the plastic tray on the other side of the desk.

As she pushed the sheets of paper together, her eyes alighted on the top-most sheet, and a surprised expression appeared on her face. She picked up the sheet. "Well, that's not much use now." she said, folding it in half with a sigh. She walked nonchalantly over to the recycling bin and dropped the sheet in it. As she returned to her desk, Cahill looked at her questioningly.

"Application form." she told him. "For the local gym. Michele was going to join."

"Michele?" he asked.

"My previous partner." she nodded. "She left on Friday. Gone down to Pulwich, to join the CTU there."

"Oh. I see." he replied. He tapped away at his keyboard, shutting down his workstation. Once it had switched off, he lifted the laptop out of the docking station, and placed it in the bottom drawer of his desk. Serina watched with curiosity as he locked the drawer and deposited the key in his shirt pocket, before heading over to the coat stand to collect his jacket.

As he walked back to his desk, she shut down her own workstation, placing her laptop in her bag. He frowned at her as he put on his jacket.

She smiled ruefully at him. "I know. Bad habit, taking your work home with you."

He reached into the pocket of his jacket and retrieved his mobile phone. He showed it to her. "I normally use this." he told her.

Serina giggled as she compared the size of his phone to her own. His was considerably larger. "Show off!" she replied, sarcastically.

She headed over to the coat stand and retrieved her coat. As she returned to her desk, Ray wandered over. "Put it away, lad." he nodded at Cahill, who was still holding his phone out. "I don't want to know that yours is bigger than everybody else's."

"Feeling a bit self-conscious, Ray?" Serina asked, smirking.

"No, not at all." he replied with a chuckle. "Size isn't everything, lass."

Serina smiled, and looked at Cahill. He didn't react. He simply put his phone back into his pocket and waited. She began to wonder if he had a sense of humour.

She looked back at Ray. He was looking suspiciously at Cahill. Perhaps he was also wondering about Cahill's lack of reaction?

Ray sighed mournfully and tilted his head in Serina's direction. "Not that she'd know about that." he added, apparently addressing Cahill. Cahill nodded, but didn't say anything in reply.

Serina rolled her eyes and sighed with exasperation. She glared at Ray. "Did you want something?" she asked. She knew he wasn't overly fond of her, and didn't much like interacting with her. She presumed he just didn't approve of her relationship with Karla.

Ray shook his head. Serina frowned. She could tell that he was disappointed with something. Had he come over specifically to be rude to her? Or to try to get a reaction out of Cahill?

"No, not really." Ray replied, sighing mournfully. "It's just that Colin mentioned you were interested in that missing bloke."

"Oh, right." she sighed, suddenly realising the reason behind Ray's visit. "You mean Winston Staples?"

Ray nodded. "That's the chappie." he replied.

Serina glanced at Cahill, silently willing him not to say anything. He just stood there, motionless. And emotionless, she thought to herself.

She looked back at Ray. "Colin said you thought he might be involved with the Savage clan." she noted.

Ray scratched his chin thoughtfully. "No, not involved." he replied. "Not as such. He's the wrong colour."

Serina glanced at Cahill again. "That's what we thought." she nodded. Cahill just looked impassively at her. She scowled at him.

Ray sighed. "He just works at the postal depot off Florentine Road, that's all." he continued. "We know that June has had some goods come in through there in the past."

Serina looked at him, surprised. "And you think somebody there is on her payroll?" she asked.

He nodded. "Got to be." he replied. "But not this Winston bloke."

Serina nodded. She didn't really know that much about June and her organisation. Just what she had heard from other people. Certainly not enough to form her own opinion on the likelihood of Winston being part of it. If Ray and Sebastian said it was unlikely, that was good enough for her. She didn't really want to get involved in the investigations. Partly because she didn't like to tread on Ray's toes too much. But also because of what had happened to Staffi...

Ray sighed, and glanced at Cahill again. "I don't suppose you'd know anything about that...?" he asked, more in hope than expectation.

Cahill shook his head.

Ray sighed again. "No, I didn't think so." he said. He turned to Serina. "Anyway, if you want to go and speak to his wife, you can." he told her. "You know, check she hasn't killed him and buried him under the patio, or whatever it is people do."

Serina smiled. "Okay. I'll keep that in mind." she replied.

Ray nodded. "Just don't go near the postal depot." he warned her. He turned and headed back to his desk.

Serina continued smiling at him. "Thanks, Ray. We'll let you know if we find anything." she said.

Ray waved his hand in the air in acknowledgement as he walked away. Serina sighed and looked around the office. Several of the other officers had already left, and the ones who were still present were in the process of leaving. Cahill was still standing beside his desk. He didn't appear to have moved at all since Ray wandered over.

"Right, I'm out of here." Serina announced, to nobody in particular. "Goodnight everybody. See you tomorrow."

She placed her bag over her shoulder, and walked out of the office with her coat slung over her other arm. A few seconds later, Cahill followed her.